Family Times

I just got home from spending the afternoon and evening with my Aunt and her family. I truly love spending time with my family during the Holidays... heck, I love being around my family just about anytime, especially my immediate family. I think it's amazing that even though we all live different lives that when we come together we seem to pick up right where we left off. Sure we have some new stories to tell and pictures to show, but the plot line is the same. I love that security and that feeling. I often take for granted the family I have, but I truly am thankful for my family...

Which brings me to one of my favorite events of the year... thanksgiving in Sea Level, NC. This year we had a Taylor Family reunion in Sea Level, NC. (Sea Level is the name of the little town) That little town has great connections to my family heritage as 3 or 4 generations of Taylors, prior to my grandad, had lived there. It's just like any rural small town, but it's on edge of the Atlantic. My great-grandfather owned the only general store, and from the stories seemed to have been the entrepreneur and business man of Sea Level. So whenever we go there, I feel a sense of entitlement as we roam the streets, because my great-grandfather was once the well-to-do man in town. Funny the way your mind works sometimes I guess. But this thanksgiving we went there and I got to hear all the old stories again. There's nothing better than hearing an old aunt tell a story about the good ole days. Sometimes I think I was meant to live in that time period... (other times I grateful I wasn't!)

This thanksgiving was filled with fun and laughter, fishing and catching, as well as family and eating. All of which are my favorites. Being around family for a solid week is trying at times, but the memories created are worth every moment of tension. Watching my little cousin eat three honey buns while fishing was great and seeing his eyes after somehow pulling up an eel are memories worth millions. Catching fish constantly at the "Blue Fish Rodeo" was worth the freezing rain and miserable conditions. Staying up ridiculously late to fish and only catching a cold, was worth every minute.

Needless to say, I love my family and I'm thankful for every moment I have with them.
Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Sea Level, NC on a map. "A"


Dolphins were swimming beside the boat!

Cape Lookout on the OBX

Tay Tay and his mom fishin!